Green Bearets: Aksel (A Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Base Camp Bears Book 3)

by Amelia Jade

  “Are you okay?” Nina asked as she climbed off of him.

  Compared to the impact on the roof, he’d barely felt her bouncing on his ribs as they crashed down.

  “Honestly, I’ve had better days,” he said, getting to his feet gingerly, keeping his weight on his left foot. Wincing, he tried to lift his right arm. It still responded to his commands, but it hurt a lot, and he tried not to look at the trail of blood that followed him across the roof.

  “Get behind me,” he said grimly as four other figures came flying up over the roof. He couldn’t outrun them anymore. He would have to fight. Without full mobility or a properly functioning arm, however, he wasn’t going to last very long.

  One of the shifters lost his balance as he landed like Aksel had, and crashed head-first into another part of the roof. He rose woozily, holding his head.

  Another had given his jump some sideways momentum, and ended up crashing into a third shifter. But in the end, all four of them spread out to pin him and Nina to the side of the roof.

  “That almost worked,” the leader said with a nod his direction. “But you won’t get away this time.”

  “Neither will you,” Aksel promised, his voice deadly serious. “You may kill me, but you’ll be the first one to die, of that I guarantee.”

  The leader slowed, evaluating Aksel, but in the end, the advance continued. “We’ll see,” was all he said.

  Aksel nodded, not responding either as he conserved his own breath. This was going to take all the skills he possessed if he hoped to create an opening that might allow Nina to escape. He’d seen the fire escape, and so had she. It was her only chance, and he would need to not only clear the path, but buy her enough time to find backup.

  The five combatants faced off against each other, waiting. Whoever made the first move would be at a distinct disadvantage. Aksel had another reason to take his time, though, and already he was feeling his body begin to repair the damage, both to his ankle, but more importantly, to his shoulder. The pain began to dull, and it slowly responded more fluidly to what he wanted it to do.

  That wasn’t to say it was normal; he needed a lot more time for that. But he should be able to use it now, which would change the entire way he fought the battle.

  “He’s deliberately waiting so he can heal. Stop stalling and get him,” the leader snarled, gesturing at the two outside men in his group.

  Aksel cursed. He had hoped for another thirty seconds or more to recover before the battle was joined, but he didn’t have it now.

  The first pair came in, one from high on his right, the other low on his left. Their timing was perfect. They would hit him at exactly the same time, and he could only defend against one of them.

  It was only natural for someone in a situation like that to want to go for the high road. That person was coming for their head and upper body, the more vulnerable areas. The trick was, however, to note that that person was nearly impossible to defend against. The attack on his knees, however, would spill him to the ground and leave him open to any follow-up.

  But if he defended against the low attack, he would expose his back to the man coming in from high, and his fight would also be over just as quickly.

  He couldn’t retreat, because that would send him closer to Nina.

  However, all the attention was on him just then, and he intended to keep it that way.

  So Aksel did the only smart thing open to him. The one thing none of them would expect.

  He charged forward across the roof. Not at the leader, but at the shifter who had hit his head and was still feeling the effects of it.

  “You’re mine,” he growled as the surprised shifter reacted to the sudden change in situation.

  But it was too slow. Nobody had been expecting it, and the shifter barely had a moment to throw his arms up in defense before Aksel was on him.

  Behind him he could hear footsteps as the other three pounded across the roof after him. As he leapt at him, Aksel locked an elbow under the shifter’s neck and used that to swing his massive frame up and onto the man’s back. Once there he wrapped his second arm around his head, legs coming around his waist like scissors as he wrenched his arms to the side violently.

  Bone snapped and Aksel fell backward as his target died in his arms before he could even realize what was happening. The big body came crashing down on top of him, but Aksel was ready for that. He’d let go and allowed himself to fall first, curling his arms and legs up underneath him.

  As the corpse fell on top of him, Aksel used the momentum to his advantage, absorbing the weight and then flinging it forward, using the body as a projectile.

  “Get the girl, you idiots!” the leader snarled, pointing behind him as he continued to advance on Aksel.

  Shit.

  He’d hoped to keep their attention focused on him until he could circle back around to place himself between them and Nina. Apparently this guy was made of sterner stuff.

  Aksel swept his legs around and used the momentum to get to his feet.

  “Time to die.”

  “You first,” Aksel said as he met the shifter’s attack head-on. He was bigger than his foe, and used that to his advantage ruthlessly, getting low and driving up into the attacker with his shoulder, accepting the blows as he went.

  His intent had been to hurl the leader from the roof, to buy himself more time. Three steps in and Aksel thought he might succeed.

  But his plan was foiled when the third shifter, the one who’d been hit by the body of the fourth, returned to the fray and took him out at the knees.

  Aksel went down hard on his side.

  The leader threw himself clear but followed him in. Before Aksel could get his defenses up a booted foot connected with his jaw, snapping his head back in a spray of blood.

  Nina screamed.

  Aksel grunted as a fist followed the kick to his face, smashing his cheek and rebounding his head off the ground.

  He struggled to get to his feet, but something that felt suspiciously like a steel bar hit him in the stomach, driving the air from his lungs. He fell back, gasping for breath, even as he was hauled to his feet, muscles screaming in protest as he was straightened up.

  “Fuck you,” he spat through his open eye, just before another first smashed his nose.

  “Aksel!” Nina screamed again, but her voice was growing distant.

  “Punk,” someone said, and the bar hit his arm, breaking bone.

  Aksel roared in pain as air rushed back into his lungs.

  The same weapon hit his leg and he collapsed to the ground.

  “Nina,” he said, spraying blood everywhere as he reached forward with his one hand, trying to drag himself closer to her.

  A boot stomped on his fingers, grinding his bones against the concrete.

  “Ninaaa!” he yelled again, barely able to see her through the red haze of blood pouring down his face from a cut on his forehead.

  “She’s dead,” a voice laughed at him. “All because you couldn’t save her.”

  “F-fluck you,” Aksel said through broken lips, his words slurring.

  “No. Fuck you, you highborn Cadian piece of shit. We’re going to string your body up as a warning to all the rest of you snotty fucks. Fenris is done bowing and scraping over the ground you walk on. It’s time you cowered before us.”

  There was the sound of air rushing against something, and snow whipped up around Aksel, though he was only vaguely aware of it.

  The roof shook.

  A deep voice rumbled out over them.

  “Perhaps I shall then scatter your bodies where your friends may find the pieces, as a warning to the rest of you assholes about what happens when you fuck with Cadia.”

  Aksel recognized that voice. He’d heard it before, but his addled brain couldn’t quite place it just then.

  “Nina,” he said weakly.

  Suddenly she was by his side.

  “Aksel! Aksel! Stay with me Aksel, it’s going to be okay.”


  Okay? No, it’s not okay. They’re going to kill us both.

  He could vaguely hear screaming in the background.

  Whoever it was, they were also losing, it seemed.

  “Nina,” he said one last time, conjuring up a picture of her happy as he told one or another of his lame jokes, her hair bouncing as she giggled, slight dimples visible in her face while her glasses rode up from her smile.

  It was perfect, the last thing he wanted to see as his vision dimmed.

  Nina.

  Then darkness swallowed him.

  Chapter Eight

  Nina

  Her eyes blinked open.

  Slowly, ignoring the screeching protests from muscles, she uncurled herself from the chair and stretched.

  Morning light was streaming through the window, but she ignored it. Her attention was focused elsewhere, as it had been for the past twelve hours.

  The figure in the bed didn’t look any different, but she knew something must have changed. Otherwise she would not have woken.

  “Aksel?” she said hesitantly.

  Her chair was pulled up right next to the bed, and all she had to do was extend her arm a few inches to reach him.

  Fingertips touched his skin, still bruised in some spots, though it was well into the healing stages by now, only slightly yellowed. Another hour or two and it would be gone, she suspected.

  Like his other wounds, they were all mostly healed. Even the worst of them had begun to subside from the swelling hours before.

  Yet he’d not woken up. Nobody could figure out why. They all insisted he should have been up and about four to six hours ago. He would have been sore, and likely weak until he ate. But there was no lasting damage that any of the shifters could see.

  Even now, he seemed like he was peacefully asleep as she ran her hand lightly up and down his exposed arm. They’d cut his shirt away to ensure that his bones were properly set, so they healed naturally. Now he lay in the bed clad only in a pair of trunks, exposing his magnificent physique to her eyes.

  Nina knew she shouldn’t be staring. He was unconscious, after all. But his musculature was…impressive, to say the least.

  Her hand paused in its stroking of his arm as she pursed her lips.

  He needed to wake up. Now.

  “Don’t stop, that feels nice.”

  The noise broke the silence so abruptly that she jumped, letting out a little yip of surprise.

  “Aksel?” she practically shrieked.

  The big shifter yawned, stretching in the bed.

  “The one and only.”

  He opened his eyes at last. They focused on her, and then to her surprise, he frowned.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Besides the fact that I got my ass kicked in front of you?” he quipped.

  She wanted to reach out and swat him for being so nonchalant about his near-death experience, but Nina was just too happy he was awake.

  “Yes, besides that.”

  “This is what’s wrong,” he said, patting the space on the bed between them.

  “What? Are the sheets uncomfortable or something? I can go find new ones,” she said reaching forward to feel them.

  Aksel laughed as he grabbed her hands. “Not that. I meant the fact that it’s empty space,” he growled, pulling on her arm.

  Nina laughed and let herself fall forward—gently—into the bed as he pulled her into an embrace.

  One big arm wrapped itself around her as Aksel maneuvered her until she was curled up on her side, head resting on his chest as his far arm gently stroked her face.

  “I was worried about you,” she whispered after a moment. “Nobody could figure out why you weren’t waking up.”

  Aksel hesitated for a moment, before giving her a gentle squeeze.

  “I just needed some beauty rest,” he joked. “I definitely needed it after that fight.”

  She poked him in the ribs. “Stop making fun of it.”

  The big shifter turned serious. “That’s how we deal with these things, Nina. Death is close at hand to us, near the surface every day. Shifters die all the time, and the only thing we can do is to accept it, and make light of it. Otherwise we would spend all our days worrying. And I refuse to do that.”

  “Well, I refuse to not worry about you dying,” she told him sternly.

  Aksel’s chest bounced softly as he chuckled, but then it went still once more as the serious air between them returned.

  “I was worried too, you know,” he admitted.

  “About dying?” she asked.

  “About you. I knew once they killed me, they were going to kill you too.”

  Nina thought about telling him how the one shifter had snarled at her as she tried to break free.

  Stop fighting. The boss says you aren’t to be harmed, so let’s just make this easy for the both of us, shall we?”

  The ambush, she knew now, hadn’t been set up for him.

  It had been for her.

  But still, she couldn’t tell Aksel that. Not now, at least.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she lied. “I was just remembering you on the roof there. I knew for certain you were going to die.” Her voice grew thick and hoarse near the end.

  “Hey, hey,” he said, shaking her gently. “It’s okay. I’m made of tougher stuff than that. They got the jump on me, that’s all. You don’t need to worry about me.”

  “I do worry about you though,” she said, twisting slightly so she could look up at his face.

  Big brown eyes tracked her movement, watching her, looking at her. “I do,” she repeated.

  A large, yet deceptively gentle hand came up and cupped her jaw, tilting her head back a little more.

  “I’m okay now, I promise,” he said.

  Nina thought she felt a tremble run through his hands.

  “You’d better be,” she said, giving him a glare, though it had no real power behind it.

  “I’m mostly good to go,” he said.

  “Mostly?”

  “Well,” he began, his voice dropping a level.

  Nina’s mouth went dry as she realized what was about to happen, where he had been going with this line of conversation.

  “Well what?”

  “There’s one thing I could use.”

  “What’s that?” she asked huskily, trying to swallow the lump of nervousness in her throat.

  “This,” he said, and Aksel’s head dipped down, placing his lips firmly over hers as they kissed for the first time.

  Nina almost pulled away, part of her brain telling her it was too soon. That she didn’t know him well enough.

  He was willing to sacrifice his life for me. That tells me all I need to know about him.

  And with that thought, she melted into the kiss, her left hand sliding up his chest to lay tenderly along his cheek as the moment went on, and on. Teeth nipped gently at her lower lip and Nina felt her body respond automatically by pressing itself harder into his side, letting Aksel know she enjoyed it.

  A tiny gasp slipped from between their lips as a cloud of heat seemed to rise up from Aksel and wash over her. It poured through her skin, energizing her blood, making it sing. It erased the fatigue she’d felt after getting little in the way of sleep.

  Nina felt her nipples harden in response. How far were things going to go today, she wondered? How far would she let them go? Kissing Aksel was one thing—one wonderful, amazing, delightful thing—but was she ready to let it go that next step?

  Her body was, she knew that. The reaction had been swift and instant. The moment his lips had pressed into hers, she’d known if he wanted to, he could have her that morning. Yet, there was more to Nina than that. Her heart, and her brain all had to be in agreement if that was going to happen, and she wasn’t entirely certain how they felt.

  “I’m sorry I got you into such a position,” Aksel whispered as he kissed his way from her lips to her ear and down to her neck.

 
She tensed, wondering if he would continue on to her collarbone, but he didn’t. Instead Aksel pulled back so that he could look her in the eyes, and once again Nina was treated to shame there.

  “Hey, get rid of that,” she told him, her eyes narrowing. “This is my town, not yours. I knew where I was, but I wasn’t paying attention. That is on me, not you, mister. So don’t you try and take that blame from me. That is not fair.”

  Aksel had the good grace to look embarrassed, but she didn’t let him wallow in that either. Instead Nina reached out and pulled his face back to hers.

  Okay, so maybe her heart was in more agreement with her body than she thought.

  Her brain, however, was an entirely different entity. One that didn’t always know what was best for her. Then again, she thought, as he kissed her fully and passionately, it didn’t always know what was worse for her either. Sometimes listening to her brain had gotten her out of trouble, just like it’d made her pass up on things she later regretted not doing.

  But there was one overwhelming thing it was telling her in regard to getting more intimate with Aksel right then and there.

  And that was that they were in a—

  A throat cleared itself loudly, followed a moment later by a knock on the doorframe, since there was only a curtain instead of a door.

  —public room.

  Nina rolled slightly away from Aksel, trying to look anywhere but at the door as a big shifter pulled the curtain back and entered. He stopped abruptly at the sight before him.

  “Ah, my apologies,” Captain Luther said uncomfortably, taking in the two of them on the bed, Aksel’s arms still around her body.

  “None necessary, sir,” Aksel said, struggling to rise.

  “Stow it, Lieutenant,” the captain said, holding out a hand. “Let’s not upset Nina’s balance here. You don’t want to dump her onto the floor,” he teased.

  Aksel ceased trying to stand, where he could come to attention, and instead lay back into the bed, much to Nina’s relief.